This paper traces the evolution of the choice idea over three generations, from a market model concerned with economic liberty, to a demand for social justice based on equality, to a political movement that translates the idea into policy. Focusing on the last generation, it explains why the market concept has lacked political appeal and how…

This article offers an explanation and economic rationale for the failure of vouchers to be generally accepted by the public, suggesting that public schools are in fact a local public good. The reason economists fail to notice this is they look exclusively to the educational activity of the schools. Education is actually a private good, being both…

Interviews with parents of British students moving to secondary schools in one district investigated relationships between socioeconomic status (SES) and families' activities within school quasi-markets. Relationships were complex and multifaceted. There were strong relationships between both SES and educational level and the degree of family…

Claims of success in Minnesota's open enrollment plan are exaggerated. Transfer requests are based on convenience and location rather than on the quality of education. Using the open market technique means that handicapped or other high risk students will be less desirable commodities. Public funding for private schools will be advocated. (MLF)

In "Politics, Markets, and American Schools," Chubb and Moe (1990) advocated free market principles that would give individual families the freedom to choose among competing schools. This review claims that Chubb and Moe's empirical case is fatally flawed and that the market approach to choice they embrace threatens the ideal of a…

U.S. Roman Catholic schools, noted for their history of academic success and worried about rising costs and declining enrollment, have launched a nationwide marketing campaign called "Discover Catholic Schools 1992." Expenses are up because religious order membership is down. The campaign coincides with President Bush's promotion of privatization…

Critiques arguments by Harry Brighouse for ignoring the social and political contexts that generate policies concerned with compulsory schooling and school choice. Proposes changes in educational policy that would develop structures and procedures designed to prevent already disadvantaged children from suffering further from increased school…

Low-income scholarships facilitate an immediate, cost-effective way for students to go to much better schools, providing leverage for public schools to undertake needed reforms to benefit disadvantaged students. The United States is one of the few countries that does not have a significant voucher or choice system, though support for choice…

Looks at different waves of school reform beginning with Sputnik in the 1950s. Examines influences in today's reform, including industrial influences and school choice. Argues that the origins and outcomes of school reform have more to do with what is happening outside the school than within it, and that schools must think beyond objective indices…

Summarizes a study examining the dynamics of a set of (British) education markets over a 39-month period. Secondary schools in three adjacent local education authorities served as laboratories for researching choice and competition. The market's disciplinary effects are clear. The education market reinforces opportunity advantages of middle-class…

Explores the consequences of integrated choice/accountability policies for school organization and governance, examining the constitutional context of school authority, identifying historical trends in the exercise of authority by various stakeholders, presenting a model for understanding governance today, describing school choice and performance…

This study compares segregation levels in Milwaukee public schools and in private schools participating in the Milwaukee voucher program. Using a segregation index that measures the difference between the percent of students in a school who are white and the percentage of school-age children in the greater metro area who are white, it finds that…

Charter laws have been the reform debate's path of least resistance. But the combination of regulatory barriers, open admissions, lack of consumer sovereignty, preferential funding of traditional public schools, and political control of prices means that charter laws may be irrelevant as reform catalysts, or worse. Even the strongest charter laws…

An analysis of Ohio's school choice options and the likelihood of their implementation from the conservative perspective is provided in this paper. The following issues are examined: conservative arguments for school choice; the extent to which conservative arguments are related to conservative movement themes; the extent to which conservative…

Since 1869, Vermont has operated a viable voucher system in 90 towns. During 1998-99, the state paid tuition for 6,505 K-12 students to attend public and private schools. As discussions about vouchers and educational reform grow, critics contend that vouchers are a new, untested concept and therefore must be implemented on an extremely limited,…